NORWALK -- President Barack Obama abruptly canceled a campaign rally in Bridgeport on Wednesday to instead convene his cabinet at the White House, as officials grappled with the widening Ebola crisis.

Norwalk Mayor Harry W. Rilling was among a number of Norwalk Democrats who had tickets to attend the rally in Bridgeport.

"We were planning on going (Wednesday) evening, (but) certainly the Ebola outbreak is something that really needs the president's attention," Rilling said. "It comes as no surprise with the recent (Ebola) occurrences in Dallas that he needs to meet with his advisors, and certainly it is understandable that he would have to cancel the events in New Jersey today and Connecticut."

Obama had planned to travel Wednesday to New Jersey to raise money for Senate Democrats at a restaurant in Union, and then fly to Connecticut for a rally at Bridgeport Central High School for Dannel P. Malloy. The Democratic governor, like many other Democrats in this midterm election, is locked in a dead-heat re-election race.

Rilling said the Norwalk Democratic Town Committee held about 15 tickets for the Bridgeport rally.

Early Wednesday afternoon, the Connecticut Democratic Party released a statement announcing that the Bridgeport rally had been postponed to allow the president to "convene a meeting at the White House of cabinet agencies coordinating the government's response to the Ebola outbreak."

The Connecticut Democratic Party said the rally would be rescheduled in the coming weeks.

Those who planned to attend Wednesday's rally, the statement continued, would have priority to attend when Obama returns "later in the campaign by visiting a Democratic Party field office, dropping off their tickets, and providing their contact information."

Ticket holders were asked to return their tickets to the party's field offices in Stamford, Bridgeport, New Haven or Hartford, starting Monday, Oct. 20, and no later than Thursday, Oct. 23, "to have priority when the President returns."

Obama planned to speak with reporters on Wednesday afternoon after meeting with top officials who are coordinating the government's response to Ebola.

His decision to nix the trip -- just a few hours before Air Force One was scheduled to depart -- reflected the urgency facing the administration amid the American public's escalating concerns about potential spread of the virus.